The concerned Railway Board officials are adamant, they are not followed the orders of then Railway Minister

New Delhi: To regulate S. R. Reddy as President of All India RPF Association (AIRPFA) after his retirement as per the constitution of AIRPFA numbers of meetings were held with the then Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu in his chamber in Railway Bhawan. The details of participants and minutes are as under...

1. On 17.05.2017, from Federations side General Secretary of AIRF Shiva Gopal Mishra and General Secretary of NFIR Dr. M. Raghvayya along with AIRPFA President S. R. Reddy and Secretary General U. S. Jha and from Railway Board side the then Member Staff Pradeep Kumar, the then DG/RPF S. K. Bhagat and DG/Personnel Anand Mathur were present.

In the said meeting Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu categorically said to the Railway Board's officials it is the prerogative of members of AIRPFA to choose their president so why Railway Board officials have an objection to that?

2. On 13.07.2017 Dr M Raghvayya, U. S. Jha and S. R. Reddy again met Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu wherein from Railway Board's side Secretary, Railways Board R. K. Verma was present. The Railway Minister Mr Prabhu instructed Secretary, Railway Board Mr Verma to get the order issued for the continuance of S. R. Reddy as President of AIRPFA.

3. On 08.08.2017 when the orders were not issued in spite of clear instructions from Railway Minister, a meeting was called in which President NFIR Gunman Singh, Dr Raghvayya, U. S. Jha and S. R. Reddy from the Federation's side and from Railway Board's side DG/Personnel Anand Mathur, ED/IR Alok Kumar, ADG/RPF P. S. Raval and IG/RPF Pandey were present in this meeting.

In this meeting Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu asked the official side as why the order of S. R. Reddy to continue as President, AIRPFA was not issued in spite of his clear instructions, on this DG/Personnel said, 'that para 5 of term and conditions under which the recognition was granted to the Association stipulates that no person who is not a member of the force should be associated with the affair of the Association.'

On this Railway Minister Mr. Prabhu said that there is also a provision in para 26 of the said term and conditions that in case of any dispute in regards to any term and conditions the Railway Board's decision will be final, so as a Minister it is my instruction to allow Mr Reddy to work as President of AIRPFA.

Railway Minister also questioned the official side as how many power centres are working in the Railway Ministry? Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has warned the official side to face action for not abiding by his instructions and this amount to be an insubordination. He categorically said to the official side that he does not want to hold any more meetings on this subject.

The above meetings shows that the Government is ready to safeguard the interests of Recognized Federations/Association of Railwaymen in the interest of cordial industrial relations for the betterment of Railways and Railway Passengers but certain power-hungry egoistic Railway Board officials want to derail the cordial industrial relationship and now DG/RPF is openly issuing letters in contrast to the policy of the Government?